The Air Beneath Us
by White-Corner-Wall
Summary: On break from University, all Artemis wants to do is relax, read, and sun-tan with Zatanna. But the girls are soon embroiled in 'highlining'-the sport of walking out on elevated, tensioned ropes strung between canyons. And both are magnetically drawn to a group of daredevil boys and their charismatic but brooding leader, Dick, who is willing to risk everything for a rush. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Break**

(~1600 words)

_\\\ AU. Artemis, on summer break from Gotham University, prepares to travel to Zatanna's house, where she'll be staying for the next 3 weeks. /_

Artemis juggled her bags and boxes, nearly dropping her phone and the tinny voice that sounded from it.

"I'm telling you, Zatanna said, "you're going to love this place." Her voice echoed on itself as if she were seated in a cave or a music hall, both of which, Artemis thought, were entirely plausible places for Z to hang out. Z was the type of girl to collect places: reading nooks, fishing spots, copses of trees…

It was her who'd first found the way onto Artemis' college dorm roof—an ingenious route that involved crawling through another room's window, climbing a gnarled elm tree and an old, rusted fire escape, and then a hard metre or so pull-up over the roof lip, which Artemis was convinced was impossible without two people. Then they'd realised you could just take an elevator to the roof. Z didn't want to go up there after that, which was a shame: Artemis loved the airy feeling of being a few stories up, loved how Gotham's lights winked like fireflies, how everything looked differently, like she was discovering the world all over again.

Artemis shifted her duffle bag higher on her shoulder, causing the pot plant she was carrying to tilt violently, scattering dirt over her hands. Her shoulder shifted upward, trying to maintain the force that held her phone squished to her ear. She felt like she was juggling six balls at the same time, but her rewards wasn't applause, it was her not breaking anything worthwhile. "I hope so," she replied, "It'll be good to get away for a little while…"

She could see her parked car, to the right, through the glass doors of her residential block. Come on, just a few more metres to freedom, she'd already done the hard part. This was her third trip, and she'd miscalculated. She should've just bitten the bullet and came back a 4th time. Damn, it was annoying the University made them move out during the summer break, even if it was for a well-needed clean.

"Nothing can be worse than Gotham Uni and its grey tangle of bricks, pollution and two-hundred-year spree of gun, knife, theft… well, just all-out Crime with a capital 'c' really," Zatanna said.

"Hey, unlike you I actually _enjoy_ my education." Artemis smiled bye to the blonde girl manning the reception who stared back expressionless, chewing a piece of gum. Yeah, Artemis thought, don't even offer to help, you prissy bitch. Then again, maybe the girl hadn't even been able to see her through Artemis' damned stack of belongings. It's funny how she'd came here a year ago, thinking she had nothing, and only now did she realise just how many material objects she had. People just collect items, she thought, like how no matter how hard you tried, dust still managed to infiltrate even the cosiest and tightest of places.

Zatanna snorted. "Nerd."

"Coming from the straight A student." Artemis manoeuvred her way slowly, burdened down by her heavy load. She waited impatiently for the automatic doors to open, and then she was out in the air in the muggy summer heat, the sweet stink of rhododendrons heavy in her nostrils, the afternoon sun already pricking out beads of sweat on her forehead.

"Hey, I needed to keep up my academic excellence from my childhood. Just for my Dad's sake. Who wants their kid to peak in grade 3? And you're wrong by the way, I got a B in my first semester."

"Oh no," Artemis said, rolling her eyes, "a _B_."

"That was before I figured out any professor will give you an A if you sleep with them. There's just something about academia which is awfully sexually repressive…"

"I know you're joking, Z, but I'm still concerned."

Artemis found herself grinning at their banter. She could almost hear Z smiling through the phone too. And for a moment, Artemis could see before her the 3 week summer trip in all its glory: parties in Z's free house (seeing as her Dad was busy working overseas, as usual), alcohol, late-nights, movies, hikes… The bright world of her future hung before her, shiny and bloated with promise, and it was impossible not to smile. After all, she had the rest of her life ahead of her, what wasn't joyful about that?

Then Artemis dropped her pot plant and Z laughed at her long string of expletives.

"Wow, I never heard some of those before," she said after Artemis had finished. "I don't even think that's anatomically possible. I can't even imagine it. What'd you do anyway? Stub your toe… look in a mirror?"

"Ha ha... no, I dropped a pot plant." Artemis placed the bundle of things she was carrying gently onto the ground, next to the back wheel of her car.

Zatanna made a small noise of sadness. "Ooft."

Artemis sighed, crouching down next to the fragmented remains of the pot and the scattered dirt, the poor plant's roots sticking out like dried noodles. Artemis brushed one of its leaves. It was already wilting. Maybe she could still save it though. "And if your imagination's lacking, maybe you should broaden your mind then, Z," Artemis said.

"There are more things on heaven and earth and all that…"

"Oh my god!" For a moment, Artemis forgot the plant dying next to her car on the hot tarmac. "You finally read it?" Artemis had been trying to get Z interested in literature for years. She'd thought that maybe if only Z read some Shakespeare, got through one play like _Hamlet_, then everything else would open before her with ease, like a flower blooming before the sun. And Z had done it! Queue confetti and balloons and fireworks!

"Uh…" Zatanna's voice trailed off into awkward silence. Artemis sighed loudly at the phone so the other girl would hear it, feeling stupid for her brief burst of hope and pride. She knew what that sound meant. "Oh, I really tried this time! I promise. It was just so… you know, plodding… like a lame horse really. I did look up some of the quotes though. And I did read through all the Sparknotes."

"You're a lost cause, Zatanna Zatara."

"Except I know exactly where I am." Artemis winced at the same time Zatanna groaned. "I'm truly sorry for that one. There's no such thing as a good pun."

"I think that's the point," Artemis said drily.

Zatanna said her goodbyes, reminded Artemis her address and told her to drive safe. "Trust me," she'd said, "if you think city drivers are bad, just wait until you give them some space and open air. That's when they really go crazy. It's like they've traded brains for clouds."

Artemis promised to be careful. On the list of ways to die, a car-crash definitely wasn't up there. Any way which involved that moment where you knew you'd fucked up, that split-second where you thought, Fuck, this might be it, unless….? Yes, she thought, that was the worst way to go.

Folding her arms and sighing, she looked for a moment at her pile of belongings, so heavy when she'd been carrying it, but so sparse-looking, stacked up in a pile next to her car. It was a three hour or so drive from Gotham further up into the mountains, what the locals referred to as 'the stacks.' Z promised her food and her stomach protested at the thought. Z could burn pasta. She _had _burned pasta. How that girl managed to live alone for the most part… Artemis swore the only meals Z could prepare to be edible were 2-minute-noodles and stick-in-the-oven or microwave goods. Only the meals where she could set a timer on, walk away, then come back to something edible, as if it were magic. Maybe if she had time, Artemis could grab takeaway on the way…

Well, seize the day and all that, she thought. After searching for her car keys for five minutes, she remembered she'd left the car unlocked—it was such an old piece of shit, she practically dared for someone to steal it. (She was half hoping for an insurance payout guaranteed to be of more value than even its scrapped parts.)

A brief search garnered a small container which she filled with water and put the plant in. Hopefully that would be enough to keep it alive until a more permanent solution was found. Then she spent 5 minutes packed her belongings into the small, cramped VW, while the sun glared down (light bouncing off the car's chalky, pastel yellow paint-job) and the sweat trickled down her back.

Finally, she was ready to go. Pausing to regain her breath, she rested her forehead against the hot strip of steering wheel. Ugh, she was not looking forward to the long drive, especially in this piece of shit. With a guttural cough, the car started, and she flipped on her sunnies and wound down the windows and put on some music. Spluttering smoke, she rolled out of the carpark, through a few winding streets, and into the slow lane of the highway.

The engine whined at her when she went above 75. So she turned up the music until it almost drowned out the whistling wind, and ignored the other drivers that pulled out from behind her with a raised hand or an angry look to peel in front of her and speed off into the distance, disappearing into the soft shimmer of heat and the promised glow of the horizon.

* * *

_This will be a slow burn. Ensuing chapters will pick up pace quickly. Updates will be moderately short, but hopefully frequent. If you enjoyed this, make my day by leaving a review! I also always welcome (and am thankful for) constructive criticism._

_until next time,  
~WCW._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Promise of Light**

_/ Artemis arrives at Zatanna's house, and they share their first night together. \\\_

~2300 words

The sun was setting behind the mountains as Artemis pulled into Zatanna's driveway. The cliff faces and peaks, stretched out in the distance, trapped the light, stone glowing a brilliant orange. Artemis had been here countless times before, but the view always amazed her: the rugged magnificence, the broad trees covering the mountaintops like hair which rippled as the topography rose and fell. Nature was something she always missed in Gotham. The contained, geometrical parks littered with rubbish didn't cut it for her.

Framed with conifers on both sides like a corridor or honour guard, the driveway was a concoction of dirt and gravel which was meant to limit potholes. It didn't work. Hello, old friends, Artemis thought as she jolted over another dip, her teeth jittering, whole car rocking on its near-non-existent suspension. It had taken her longer than she'd expected to get here: her car had struggled to even get itself up through the winding roads that twisted in on themselves and climbed higher and higher until her ears had popped from the altitude. It was like she'd entered a different universe, one where everything smelled softer and the even the light tasted green, dappling through the thousand emerald hands of trees.

Turning a corner and cresting a rise in the driveway, Zatanna's house was finally visible. Blocky and contemporary with clean dark lines and sheets of glass that reflected its surroundings, the house almost managed to blend into the backdrop. Next to the front door was a huge, blossoming Magnolia tree, flowers huge, shining like planets.

Artemis parked under the grey metal carport to one side of the house, next to the flashy black convertible that Zatanna was lucky enough to own. It was resplendent next to her shitty VW. Artemis tried to push all those thoughts aside, but it was difficult not to compare their lifestyles. Zatanna's dad was a lawyer for a large firm whose aim, when it was first created, was to uphold justice. If what Zatanna told her about it was true, it had sorely lost its way. It seemed the only perk his job had was the pay check, which, Artemis admitted, seemed like an OK deal.

She exited the car, stretching, enjoying the feeling of the wind and the sudden freedom for all her muscles. She'd taken a quick break in a coffee shop (the stale taste ofshit coffee still arrogantly paraded around her mouth) but the drive was still tiresome, especially on her calf with the way her clutch stuck sometimes.

The crunch of gravel, then something barrelled into her. "Hey!" Zatanna said, arms wrapping around her. Artemis laughed and hugged her back.

"Hey, Z."

Zatanna pulled back. Artemis always seemed to forget how bright and clear, how _blue _her eyes were. Faded blue jeans clung to her slender legs, and she wore a white shift that showed her winking belly button whenever she stretched straight. Zatanna wrinkled her nose at the car. "I'd thought for a second you'd managed to yeet yourself off the side of the mountain pass, considering how long it took you to arrive. But now I remember how absolutely shit your car is."

"I know deep down you love her."

Zatanna grinned. "Not even deep down." She patted the top of the car with affection. "It's like an abusive relationship we both keep coming back to."

"I'll just ignore that." Artemis laughed and hugged the other girl again. "Oh, it's good to see you, Z."

"I know, I know, I'm magnificent."

"Skinny as always too," Artemis poked her in the ribs. "How do you manage it?"

"I just use the French technique, you know, cigarette for breakfast, one pastry for lunch and then sex for dinner." Her eyes were bright and mischievous.

"How is Brent anyway?"

"Eh. I didn't mention it over the phone, but…" Zatanna flicked one hand imperiously, like she was sending a waiter away with half a plate of uneaten food. "We kind of moved on…"

"_We_," Artemis said flatly. Zatanna switched between partners like a butterfly fluttering between flowers: a quick sip before she was off again, moving to the next one, while all the flower could do was gaze after her and pray that the next winged, beautiful thing that came along wouldn't be so cruel.

"OK. _I_ decided enough was enough. He was so _boring_," Zatanna rolled her eyes. "Not to mention lazy in bed. He'd do this thing like a starfish," Zatanna raised both her arms in a poor imitation. "And his—"

"I do _not_ need to know all the sordid tiny intimacies of your sex life." Artemis smirked. "Not right now anyway."

"You'll probably hear all about it when we're drunk."

"Mm." Artemis reached into the backseat to grab the bag with her toiletries and a few clothes. She could grab the rest of her stuff later. "So, is there a new guy yet?"

"Guy?" Zatanna asked, as if she had no idea what the word meant. "Nice assumption," (her voice was light and teasing) "how _terribly_ heteronormative of you."

A few years ago, when they were drunk in Artemis' room in her mum's apartment, Zatanna said simply, "I'm bi" and Artemis had said "cool" and that was that.

"Right, Artemis said. "I'd nearly forgotten how nobody was safe from your clutches."

"You're safe."

Artemis tucked a loose strand of her back into her ponytail; ducked back into the car to grab the pot plant, sad and droopy in the container.

Zatanna made a noise, and Artemis came back out, bumping her head slightly and raised an eyebrow. Z's hip was cocked, arms folded. She looked Artemis up and down, eyes glinting. "Although I _could _be persuaded…"

Artemis fought to hide her blush and Zatanna laughed and pushed her lightly. "I'm just teasing. Can I carry anything?"

Zatanna, holding the pot plant (when Artemis handed it to her she'd exclaimed "Poor thing!" then asked if it should now be called "a container-plant") led her up towards the house.

"Any new _indeterminately-gendered-lover_ then?" Artemis asked.

"Ah, yes, the subject of many a pop song. But no." Z shook her head. "You've caught me in a brief stint of singleness, which is lucky for you."

"Why's that?"

The failing light played upon Zatanna's face, her hair wisping in the slight breeze. "Because now you'll have my full and undivided attention."

They paused on the front step, both looking west at the yolk of sun dipping behind the mountains and the clouds that hung above them like threads of fire.

"It's so beautiful here," Artemis said.

Zatanna looked back at her, the sun haloing behind her, her eyes and face earnest and serious. "Yes," she said simply, "yes, it is."

/*|*|*|*\

They ate dinner outside on the porch, sitting on the concrete with their bowls in their laps, the stars overlooking them, white and milky and bright. Artemis had cooked pasta for both of them, cobbling together a sauce using tomatoes and olives and garlic and chilli. Zatanna had popped out a nice bottle of chilled white wine—much nicer than Artemis would ever drink. When Artemis had noticed the expensive bottle and asked if maybe they should have something a little cheaper, Z laughed at her and grabbed two tiny frosted glasses with a twisting vine pattern on their rim and said, "if we drink it out of water glasses will you feel better?"

The wine zinged her tongue, which was already throbbing from the chilli flakes in the pasta sauce (Artemis had slipped with the spice bottle). It tasted like apricots and fresh flowers.

"You know, I'd forgotten how bougie your house was," Artemis said. The spare bedroom she was staying in had a walk-in wardrobe. And she had trouble finding everything in the kitchen, partly because Zatanna was so unorganised, and also because there were too many things: special whisks, electric devices, what seemed like fourteen rolling pins. All topped off with a stove that was covered in so many knobs and dials it could be some futuristic spaceship.

Zatanna nodded. "It is pretty bougie." She raised her glass to her lips, and it caught a piece of light from somewhere and glittered. Other than that, the night was dark, air muggy and warm.

"Well, Artemis said, "when I lead the revolution to seize the means of production, please don't be mad if you're one of the ones to get their head chopped off. I'll do my best to protect you, but you know how crowds get. And 'a few broken eggs for an omelette', the trolley problem, 'the ends justify the means', all that utilitarian bullshit will absolve me, so I'll probably get into heaven if it exists anyway."

Zatanna laughed. Her hair seemed to meld with the shadows like she was wearing a cowl of night. The darkness smelled of the honeysuckle that twisted up one side of the house.

Zatanna had once told Artemis that her dad used to argue with her mum about cutting it down. He'd been worried about it weakening the structure. "Mum found the one way she could never lose the argument," Zatanna had said, "by fucking dying. Maybe the cancer was just a premeditated guilt-trip so the honeysuckle would survive." They'd been sitting side by side in the darkness, on a night much like this, and Artemis had drawn Z into her chest, hugged her tightly and stroked her silky hair softly while she cried.

"You know," Zatanna said now, voice laced with irony, "I'd forgotten how much of a socialist you were."

"Spending your whole childhood and adolescence poor will do that to you."

"Don't sell yourself short… When you finish your arts degree, you can spend the _rest_ of your life poor too."

The both laughed at that. Artemis liked how they could just settle back in together no matter how long apart they'd been. Their friendship was like two jigsaw pieces. Or something less cliched like one of them was a slinky and the other a flight of stairs. Everything just flowed easily.

"I was thinking we could go to the lake tomorrow," Zatanna said. "It's forecasted to rain, but I hate all the forecasters anyway—those deterministic fucks. How much better was life when everything was a chance that you couldn't put a number to?"

"What, like when you exited your cave you'd never know if today was the day you were gonna be skewered by a mammoth?"

"Yes!" Zatanna shouted to the sky. "Exactly! Take me back. It was a better time, back then, so I've been told, anyway."

"Oh yeah, by whom?"

"Now who's the bougie fuck?"

"Huh?"

"It's a truth universally acknowledged that a person who says whom is begging for a kick up their ass."

Artemis gaped at Z. "Quoting Pride and Prejudice? Holy fuck, am I dreaming right now?"

"What?" Zatanna frowned. "Pride and Prejudice? I just saw that start on a lot of memes on insta."

"Yep, it's official, you're dead to me." Artemis slid her glass over, bumping into Zatanna's hand. "Come on," she said. "I need more wine to be able to put up you."

Zatanna mock-gasped but filled up her cup anyway. "Fuck, I think I overfilled it and it spilled! Ahh! The downsides of pouring liquids with no light. Yep I can feel it on my thigh!"

They both shot up to their feet, activating the halogen motion-sensor lights. Their 'dining table' was lit up copper. Moths fizzed at the base of the light globes, creating huge shadows on the porch. In the kerfuffle, Zatanna hit her cup and it fell and shattered. "Damn," she said, "lucky we didn't bring the actual wine-glasses. Dad would've been mad if we broke those… if he even noticed, anyway."

"Do you remember that time, we were around twelve I think, and we found that dusty bottle of red wine in the cellar?"

"Oh god," Zatanna groaned. "How could I forget? How was I meant to know it cost like a thousand dollars?"

"We were young, with poor taste. To think how we laughed and swore off alcohol…"

"We were foolish," Z said. "I used to wear pigtails, for a start. No, I still remember that sometimes, how that sip tasted. It was disgusting then, and I can't really think of it any differently. I'm really curious what it would taste like now." She sighed. "How young we were. We hadn't yet learned the truth of the universe: that life's shit and alcohol makes it more bearable."

They moved a few paces to the right and sat back down, the concrete now even more uncomfortably cold. Eventually the lights timed out. Artemis licked the sides of the cup, then her fingers. "Wait now I'll just overfill it again," Z said. Artemis waved her arm, re-activating the lights.

"You're a _genius_." Zatanna filled the glass back up, looking wistfully at the broken shards of glass next to them. "I suppose I'll go get another glass." Artemis put a hand on the other girl's shoulder as she started to get up.

"We can just share mine," Artemis said.

"OK."

Artemis handed her the glass, and Zatanna took a sip (her tongue darted out over her wet lips). "Just don't give me herpes."

"Fuck off."

They stayed out for hours, sharing tiny sips of the ice-cold wine until Artemis' lips were numb and her legs felt like T.V. static from sitting still for so long. When the night finally leached all the warmth out of the air, Zatanna grabbed large tightly-woven blankets from indoors. And they stayed outside, huddled up, talking about nothing until language and wine dried on their lips and they were just two friends sitting next to each other in the summer night, the scent of honeysuckle thick on the wind, while the stars kept licking the earth and the sky slowly paled with the promise of light.

* * *

_Thanks for reading and the lovely reviews so far ((: The stage is now set for Dick's arrival! As always, I welcome and love any honest feedback! _

_love and light,  
~WCW_


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